Francisco Sagasti took over and Peru regained hope …

From Lima. After a week of serious political crisis and massive demonstrations that left two dead and more than two hundred injured, the famous intellectual Francisco Sagasti assumed the presidency of Peru, 76-year-old engineer, dedicated to university teaching and research, who has worked in international organizations such as Unesco and the World Bank. He did so with a call for dialogue in all sectors, in times of tense political scene, but also by criticizing the behavior of the political class against which the streets have demonstrated. His first words as president were to recognize massive mobilizations across the country, marked by the presence of young people, who rejected the regime of their predecessor, Manuel Merino, who resigned before serving a week in power, already a political class discredited by corruption scandals. He paid tribute to the two students who died during these protests and asked the prosecution to deepen the investigations into the brutal crackdown that the brief ultra-conservative government of Merino has unleashed. “There will be no impunity,” he said.

The session in Congress had started with a minute’s silence for the deaths of Inti Sotelo, 24, and Jack Bryan Pintado, 22, killed by police gunfire during protests. In the galleries were the relatives of the two wounded and some of the wounded during the mobilizations, invited by the new president. Parents of the deceased students greeted the new gallery president as he left after completing his inaugural address.

“We can’t bring these young people back to life, but we can prevent this from happening again. We can also support the injured, some of them seriously. On behalf of the State, we apologize to their families, to them and to all the young people who marched to defend democracy, and who reminded us of what the vocation of service is, ”said Sagasti.

“With a few exceptions, our political class has not lived up to the great challenges we face and face. We have not been able to listen to and respond to the legitimate aspirations of the vast majority of Peruvians, to the demands for recognition and dignity, for equality of treatment and opportunities, for the paths of progress of all Peruvians. We must urgently address this, leaving aside resentments and resentments, accepting that it is essential to work together, ”said the President.

He stressed that the demands of the youth mobilizations of last week must be listened to and be used so that the political class, of which he demanded a “capacity for rectification”, changes “the harmful way in which we exercise politics”. And he added that “young people have become protagonists, they demand from us representation and spaces for political participation. For politics to change, it needs young people ”.

Yesterday evening, already with Sagasti as president, the mobilizations continued in various cities of the country, this time not against the government, but against the parliamentary representation at the origin of the political crisis of last week and against this political class that the new president criticized during his inauguration message.

The Sagasti government will be transitional, only eight months, until the president who is elected in the April elections takes office, and therefore with very little time and with the need to focus on certain central issues. The president made it clear that he was very clear on this.

He stressed that his main challenges will be to conduct “fair elections” and to deal with urgent problems, such as the health crisis due to the coronavirus pandemic and its economic consequences. The pandemic has so far left more than 930,000 people infected and more than 35,000 dead, and a decline in GDP estimated this year between 12 and 14%. He said the pandemic had exposed the country’s shortcomings in issues such as health and other basic services, such as education, and that action was needed to improve state care. .

Former President Martín Vizcarra, sacked by Congress, which sparked the political crisis and protests, sent a congratulatory message to the new president. “The greatest successes in the face of the great responsibility he assumes today. Young people, with their voice, demand fundamental changes that redefine the future. All Peruvian men and women join in this effort. Count on my support, ”Vizcarra wrote on Twitter.

Sagasti is a congressman from the centrist Purple Party, which with just nine lawmakers is a minority in the unicameral parliament of 130 members, but 97 lawmakers have supported his election as a way out of the dire crisis. The coalition that brought Merino to power was hit hard by the massive rejection it received, and its ability to act in Congress to confront and eventually bind the new government was significantly reduced. Many lawmakers who voted for Vizcarra’s impeachment and Merino’s election to the presidency have started marching in the media apologizing for the move which has sparked massive public outrage. The most radical, among them the Fujimori, are still in their business, but now they are greatly diminished and cornered.

His intellectual prestige, his openness to dialogue, a first message that was well received, not forming part of the stable cast of the discredited traditional political class, and not having on his men the questions of corruption that weigh on most of this political class, they play in favor of Sagasti at the start of his transitional government.